Social media mashed
Social media has become a vital element of any event campaign as more marketers recognise the benefits of an amplified message and greater engagement as we all struggle to ignore the temptation to ‘share’.
The ins and outs of the latest tools, techniques and campaigns are rarely out of the media, so for you social addicts out there we thought we’d sum up some of our favourite recent headlines:
Social and events come together in the marketing press once again in a story about Oreo’s Trending Vending Lounge at the South by SouthWest Interactive Festival.
They take personalisation a stage further than Coke did with their 'names on bottles' campaign. This time bespoke vending machines enabled visitors to create their own cookie, based on trending social conversations, and with options to choose flavours and colours. People were able to watch as their snack was assembled by using a hashtag - so tweet and eat, to make it a neat idea!
The power of teaming social media with an event is highlighted here as Krem 2 News debates whether Bloomsday was a race or social media event this year. People shared pictures of their involvement through Instagram, Facebook and Twitter with participants stopping to take snaps of their progress every mile.
Racer Jim summed it up: "A lot of my friends don't come to Bloomsday so I want to show them what they're missing.” - demonstrating the crux of the benefits of integrating social with your campaign; given half a chance people simply can’t resist sharing their experiences.
Social media has even hit the National Archives as The Telegraph reports on the launch of a new social media archive, which will see Tweets and YouTube videos of important events and moments documented alongside millions of historical, political and public records.
Finally, and for social media stalwarts everywhere, you may be interested in the latest addition to the Birds Eye range. The Daily Mail reported that emoticons, hashtag and @ symbols have even made their way onto our supermarket shelves as the king of frozen food launches ‘Mashtags’ potato product to appeal to social obsessives and take advantage of the fact that over 80% of the UK’s internet population uses some form of social network every day. So, if you want your dose of social media while tucking into your dinner tonight, they’re already stocked in Sainsbury’s, ASDA and Tesco.